Chapter 2:
- Describe the classroom and classmates
- The ages of the students range because some kids got held back. The teacher is a young girl who recently got out of college. She does not know much about the town, and is not good at handling the kids bad behavior. She is emotional and gets scared easily. Scout feels like the teacher is not teaching them well.
- Describe and analyze Walter Cunningham and his family
- The Cunningham's are farmers, and they were hit the hardest by the Great Depression. As a result, the entire family is poor and cannot afford necessities such as food and shoes. The Cunningham's don't borrow things they cannot pay back or return. For example, Walter's father could not pay Atticus in money, but in wood and material items. Walter often gets bullied for his impoverish state, and the entire Cunningham's have a reputation as being penniless.
- - Carly Etzin
- Include signs of hard economic times (throughout the whole chapter)
- Walter Cunningham didn’t have enough money to afford lunch, and he also wouldn’t borrow money from Miss Caroline because he wouldn’t be able to pay her back. Scout thinks, “He didn’t forget his lunch, he didn’t have any. He had none today nor would he have any tomorrow or the next day. He had probably never seen three quarters together at the same time in his life” (pg. 20).
- Scout asked, “Are we poor, Atticus?” Atticus nodded. “We are indeed.” Jem’s nose crinkled. “Are we as poor as the Cunningham’s?” “Not exactly. The Cunninghams are country folks, farmers, and the crash hit them the hardest,” replied Atticus. (Pg. 21)
- Dr. Reynolds charges people to have their babies delivered.
- Carly Putterman
- Analyze the allusions on page 21
- On page 21 the book makes a reference to the crash. This is allusion to the Stock Market Crash of 1929, which led to the Great Depression. The Crash was the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States.
- On this page they talk about how farmers and professional people were poor and how money was hard to come by for doctors, dentist, and lawyers. This is a reference to the great depression. The great depression was a period of time where the economy collapsed causing many businesses to be poor and many people to become unemployed. On this page they talk
- Also on this page there is an allusion to The New Deal. The New deal was a chain of economic programs proposed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. On page 21 they mention the WPA or Works Progress Administration. The WPA was a new deal agency designed to create public work jobs for the many unemployed workers.
- Katie Ostuni